Thin flat “wafers” of semiconductor and similar materials are useful for photovoltaics and other solid-state electronics, and substrates for various systems such as microelectromechanical system (MEMS). Currently they are usually derived from sawing a boule or cast block of material and then polishing the resulting slices. The sawing process results in a great deal of waste and is costly. This high cost limits the market for certain products, such as photovoltaic systems. The conventional techniques of grinding and polishing crystals to obtain thin sections introduces defects and impurities to the crystal. Alternative methods of creating thin sections by additive processes have not proven to result in high quality material. Methods devised to date for cleavage into thin sections, that is gluing on an extension to the crystal, are only good for very small sections, and are cumbersome and slow to remove the glue. One of the main issues in conventionally cleaving a very thin section is the very different behavior of the two pieces during cleaving. The main body of the crystal remains fairly rigid, but the thin section cannot resist as much force, so the cleavage blade veers sideways, breaking the thin section before a full cleave can be achieved.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and apparatuses for cleaving brittle materials.